site.btaAmbassador Petko Doykov on Bulgarian-Serbian Relations, War in Ukraine, Bulgarian Minority in Serbia

Political dialogue between Bulgaria and Serbia is exceptionally active, supported by numerous visits of Bulgarian delegations to Serbia, including those of President Rumen Radev in May 2021 and Prime Minister Kiril Petkov in February, Bulgarian Ambassador in Belgrade, Petko Doykov, said in an interview for BTA.

Cooperation in tourism, transport and energy are examples of this activity, while two-way trade exceeds one billion euro a year.

Tourist exchange between the two countries is quite large. Serbs are interested in Bulgaria’s winter resorts and more and more Bulgarians visit Serbia, Doykov said.

To illustrate the cooperation in infrastructure, the Ambassador cited two projects of exceptional importance to both countries.

One is the completion of a 14.5 km section of the Corridor X Pan-European highway project on Bulgarian territory, expected by the end of 2022 at the latest.

The other is the Nis-Sofia natural gas interconnector, which the Ambassador commented will doubtless be useful in view of recent developments in Ukraine and Russia’s moves related to gas supplies. In his opinion, it could be an option in insuring alternative supplies, something which both the Bulgarian and the Serbian governments would actually want.

On the topic of the war in Ukraine, Ambassador Doykov noted that the European diplomatic missions in Belgrade had a positive opinion of the way Serbia had voted in the UN General Assembly.

Although Serbia supported the UN resolutions condemning the Russian invasion in Ukraine, Belgrade has not imposed sanctions on Moscow.

Doykov noted that he has expectations regarding Serbia’s attitude to the sanctions against Russia and the EU declarations. Inasmuch as Serbia is a country in negotiations for EU membership, the expectations expressed by the European envoys and the delegation of the European External Action Service in Belgrade is that Serbia should be more definite in joining such EU declarations, in the way other candidate countries are doing, Doykov said.

As Bulgaria has already travelled the way to EU membership, a project is currently being prepared under which experts at key positions in the Serbian administration, engaged in the negotiations with the EU, could visit Sofia to exchange experience at Bulgarian institutions.

Taking a question about the Bulgarian minority in Serbia, Doykov said that from 1991 until the last census in 2011, the number of those who identified as Bulgarians in Serbia had dropped from 26,000 to 18,000.

A new census is scheduled for the end of the current year and Bulgaria definitely expects it to be conducted in a way that will allow all who have the understanding and awareness that they are Bulgarian citizens to identify as such, without any obstacles in this sense, Ambassador Doykov underscored.

The diplomat noted that Serbia has achieved a lot in legislation related to minorities, but its application still has some flaws, as for example the opportunity for translation of Bulgarian language textbooks. That would allow children in the Western Outlands to study in Bulgarian.

In relation to the economic development of the region, which is of key importance, Doykov said a business forum with representatives of both countries is in preparation, with companies from Serbia and Bulgaria enabled to find shared interests.

Doykov is also optimistic about the elections of the National Council of the Bulgarian national minority expected at the end of the year, as well as its future work. Of course, this election should preclude any political influence, he added.

The national councils of national minorities in Serbia are authorized to participate in or independently resolve matters related to the education, information, culture and official use of the languages and demands of the national minorities.